


A Side Effect of Friends

by DanHasOTPs



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - No Bending (Avatar TV), Fluff, M/M, Suki & Zuko (Avatar) Friendship, Trans Male Character, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, zuko is trans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-18
Updated: 2018-11-18
Packaged: 2019-08-25 14:18:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16662505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DanHasOTPs/pseuds/DanHasOTPs
Summary: From under the covers of his bed, Zuko heard the doorbell ring downstairs. He closed his eyes and almost prayed that it was just a delivery.But no such luck. He heard his uncle open the door, only to be greeted by his group of friends.He knew right then and there, there was no escaping them. Thinking quickly, he rolled out of bed to pull on a pair of discarded red and black harem pants, only to regret it soon after.





	A Side Effect of Friends

From under the covers of his bed, Zuko heard the doorbell ring downstairs. He closed his eyes and almost prayed that it was just a delivery.

But no such luck. He heard his uncle open the door, only to be greeted by his group of friends.

He knew right then and there, there was no escaping them. Thinking quickly, he rolled out of bed to pull on a pair of discarded red and black harem pants, only to regret it soon after.

A wave of nausea rushed over him and he quickly sat back down on his bed. Thankfully, the nausea passed, but he knew that wouldn’t be the end of it.

He wrapped his arms around his waist and pulled his legs up, curling into a ball as he laid down again.

Cramps.

Luckily he wasn't bleeding. Yet anyway.

It still felt like multiple white hot knives were repeatedly being plunged into his abdomen.

He’d already called the hospital in charge of his transition related medication. A few days ago they’d taken him off of his supplementary meds. The ones keeping this at bay.

Before top-surgery everything had been fine. He occasionally still had light cramps, but nothing serious and no bleeding at all.

About a month after getting his chest reconstructed the agony had started again.

He didn’t even know why. He’d been taking his testosterone the same as always. He hadn’t missed a dose, he hadn’t had issues before.

Luckily it had all happened during a school holiday. He could stay home, recover and get used to his new meds. By the time school had started again, his chest was healed and his body stopped ‘things’ again.

At least until now. The hospital told him they thought he should be fine without the supplementary meds again and cut him off.

And so here he was: in agony on top of his bed as he felt the worst dysphoria he’d had in months.

A knock on his door announced his visitors.

“Zuko, your friends are here. They are worried about you.” His uncles gentle voice announced.

“Come in.” He replied weakly as he pushed himself back into an upright position, only to realise he still hadn’t put a shirt on.

Still getting used to his chest, he avoided being undressed for long periods of time. Only a brief few seconds getting changed in the locker rooms was the longest time without a shirt he’d spend around anyone, besides uncle.

The door opened, revealing Aang, Katara, Sokka, Suki and Toph.

They all piled into the room, Katara taking his desk chair, Sokka taking a seat next to him on the bed and Aang, Toph and Suki sat down on the rug on the floor.

“I’ll go make some tea.” Iroh stated, closing the door behind him.

A few seconds of awkward silence passed until Zuko broke it.

“So how have you all been?” He asked cautiously.

“How we’ve been?!” Sokka brashly shouted at his boyfriend.

“We’re more worried about how you’ve been!” He quickly followed up.

“You were oddly quiet at school yesterday and today you don’t show up, you don’t respond to our texts and when we get here you look like death warmed over AND you ask us how we’ve been?” As Sokko spoke his voice rose louder and sharper to the point where it must have hurt Sokka to produce words.

Zuko sighed in response, only feeling more guilty for wishing them gone.

“I just haven’t been feeling well, okay? I’ll be better in a couple of days.” ‘when I get my meds back.’ he silently added.

Done with his deflections, Katara opened her mouth.

“Zuko, you’re not telling us something and you’re a mess. Talk to us!” She demanded.

Instead of answering directly, he pulled his legs to his chest again, hoping desperately that his insides would stop cramping as he tried to deal with his friends and boyfriend.

He stared at the ground, hiding half his face in his arms.

Suddenly, Suki gasped softly, followed by soft words. “Guys, maybe we should just go?”

Zuko looked at her and he knew she knew the instant their eyes met.

He’d just lifted his legs. Fuck, did he start bleeding? Had he already bled through his pants? Panic surged through him and he scrambled to get up, almost sprinting to this bathroom, narrowly avoiding his friends on the floor. He threw the door open, slamming it behind him and locking it. Confused shouts and yells from his friends followed him.

He pulled down his pants and underwear, relieved to see them clean, but now confused how Suki knew. He redressed quickly.

Soon, a series of knocks on the door snapped him back to the present. It was Suki asking if he was okay.

He opened the door, not meeting her eyes as he let her in.

She passed him and closed the door behind them before stepping closer and giving him a solid hug.

As they separated, he whispers “How did you know?”

“I saw the painkillers on your night stand and the hot pack on your bed. Doesn’t take much to figure it out from there...” She placed a hand on his shoulder, a gesture of support.

Zuko sighed again, closing his eyes. He crossed his arms over his chest again, trying to comfort himself as his dysphoria swarmed him.

Noticing his discomfort, Suki spoke up again.

“Why did it happen?” She hesitantly asked. As far as she knew he hadn’t had this issue in months, ever since starting T.

“I started bleeding again after surgery, they gave me extra meds.” He mumbled. “They cut me off a couple of day ago, because they thought I would be fine without it.”

She breathed something that suspiciously sounded like assholes, but he couldn’t be sure.

Instead of going into her hatred of the healthcare system, she offered her support.

“If you want I can tell them? I’ll try to avoid uh… certain words?” She emphatically suggested.

“Yeah. That would be nice.” he glumly replied.

Together they made their way out of the bathroom, back to his own. They found everyone with steaming cups of hot leaf juice, two extra sat on his bedside table.

With a huff he sat down next to Sokka again as everyone stared curiously at them.

Suki took Zuko’s other side, instead of returning to the rug.

Another moment of silence passed before Zuko spoke up.

“Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to worry you guys.” He took a deep breath before continuing, “I’ve been having some trouble with getting my meds and the side effects are…” he paused again, not knowing how to proceed without words that want to make him throw up.

Luckily Suki helped him out.

“Uncomfortable.” She finished.

“Something he shouldn’t have to deal with and had disappeared.” Suki hinted.

Hopefully that would be enough to get them to understand.

Another silence as everyone let the words sink in, before Toph broke it.

“That sucks, man.” Followed by a loud slurp from her tea.

“...Yeah…” Zuko dumbly replied.

Before he could say anything else, Sokka grabbed him around the waist and pulled him backwards. Not prepared for the move, Zuko yelled in surprise, legs kicking in defence and almost hitting Suki in the face.

“Watch it!” She shouted as she gracefully ducked.

“Sorry!” Zuko apologized as he tried to situate himself and his boyfriend better.

From his new position he grumbled “What the hell, Sokka?” as said boyfriends arms wrapped tighter around him.

“Laying down will help you, right?” He innocently said from behind him.

“Not if you almost bodyslam him, idiot!” Toph retorted harshly.

Sokka and Toph kept up the fight playfully for a while longer, Aang, Suki and Katara occasionally interrupting.

Zuko just laid there with a small smile until he drifted off into a light sleep, comforted by the sounds of his friends having fun.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading, hope you liked it^^
> 
> I have a Zuko focused tumblr: https://relatable-pictures-of-zuko.tumblr.com/


End file.
